


Remnants

by JQ (musicmillennia)



Series: Immemorial [2]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Brainwashing, Dark, Fix-It, M/M, Origin Story, Psychological Torture, Reunions, Temporary Amnesia, Torture, sort of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-12
Updated: 2016-04-12
Packaged: 2018-05-30 20:07:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6438448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicmillennia/pseuds/JQ
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Time Masters attempted to separate them once. They learned their lesson.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Remnants

**Author's Note:**

> So, first of all, thank you all so much for your support! It really means a lot :D
> 
> This is going to be split into 2 chapters, because we have two origin stories to cover. Chronos and Null basically have the same origin story since they're so entwined, but Sigma deserves her own ;)
> 
> Let's have some more fix-its

Everything must be erased. Everything has been erased. Everything will be erased. Everything is erased. The End will accept nothing less.

But there is a room.

There is a room, and there is a man.

There is a room, there is a man, and Time still turns.

_Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock._

Strange. Does the End know this man?

_Tick._

Yes.

_Tock._

Oh, yes.

_Tick._

Time.

_Tock._

The End wishes to destroy a great many things, but Time...

_Tick._

Time will always be welcome.

_Tock._

 

**********************

 

Death doesn't have a solid foothold in the Time Vortex. When you're in the middle of it, you're always being born, always living, always dying, always dead. This was one of the few reliefs given to the Time Masters.

One thing they were never told: even if both your arms and legs are in bloody heaps, you still would not die.

So Rip lies in the middle of what he now knows as the Borealis' bridge, throat raw from screaming but never, not once, feeling the sweet embrace of death.

The End grins down at him instead, dark eyes swelling with fresh stars as if revitalized by his suffering. Behind it stands Time, arms crossed, a pleased smirk on its face.

"Again," Null orders, voice a quiet contrast to his savagery.

This time, Rip doesn't hesitate; he doesn't know when they'll cut off his voice again. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Null steps back. "What do you think, Chronos?"

Chronos tilts his head. "Depends on what he's sorry for, Lenny."

They use the names interchangeably, as if there is no difference between Mick Rory and Chronos or Leonard Snart and Null. Perhaps there no longer is.

"True," Null concedes. Taking a knee beside Rip's broken body, he asks, "What exactly  _are_ you sorry for,  _Captain_?"

"Everything," comes out of Rip's mouth before he can stop it.

Wrong answer.

Chronos slams his boot on his balls. Rip can only manage a hoarse whimper.

"Well, well," Rory grins, "that doesn't sound sincere at all."

Snart, for his part, is cackling. "Everything!" he hisses.

"We see everything all the time, Captain. The Beginning, the End, all the events in between. Why apologize for everything?"

"I think I'll erase his tongue next," Null says.

Rip can't even bring himself to protest.

 

**********************

 

Turns out the Waverider planned to abandon Mick in the middle of the Dark Ages. Len's barely held his gun aloft at some terrified villagers when he and Mick are suddenly blinded by a white light.

Memory is...selective after that. Even now, neither of them are entirely sure if the Time Masters talked to them or if they just knocked 'em out and took them straight to the Vanishing Point. Len remembers a blurry outline of Mick's heat nestled against his side; Mick thinks he can recall Len being torn from him.

Either way, they remember the void. Len remembers darkness surrounding him, suffocating him, talking to him. Mick remembers dynamic light growing and shrinking in his head, overwhelming him, scrutinizing him.

Chronos and Null's first memories are of waking up and thinking that maybe, just maybe, something might be missing.

 

**********************

 

The End. That's where they put Leonard Snart. There's one doorway they managed to secure, a gaping hole in the Vanishing Point. Leonard's mind is a hard puzzle to crack, having retained years of experience in withstanding physical and mental torture. The Time Masters decide that his partner, broader and already showing signs of Chronos emerging, is of much better use.

Considering Leonard Snart's influence on the timeline, they figure Null will come along in another, more important person. And so, they plan to allow the End to erase him. 

That is not what happens.

 

**********************

 

The man in the room who holds pieces of Time is uncovered from the waist up. The End is likewise exposed. It is still unused to being confined, but  _this_. This is what it has yearned for since it could first feel what it is to want.

Time cannot be erased, just as the End cannot be stopped. With human fingers, they finally reach tentatively towards each other and  _touch_.

Oh. Oh, oh,  _oh_.

Slowly, they trace each other's faces, necks, shoulders, all the way down to their waists. And the End knows this one. This one is the only one it has never wanted to erase.

But what does i...what does  _he_ call this One?

Gently, he touches their foreheads and stares into the condensed Vortex. He connects the ending of that body, now thwarted, to a timeline that feels the most familiar. He can hear the most recent name and traces over Time's lips.

No, not just Time's.

"Chronos."

 

**********************

 

The hunters finally gather the severed limbs and drag Rip back to holding by his collar. Null tosses the legs and arm in first, Chronos sliding Rip in next.

"Now sit in that corner and think about what you've done," smirks Null. Chronos barks a laugh.

When they turn, it is to Rip's gaping team.

"Did you not know either?" Null asks, curious. He taps the pad next to the closest cell so he can get an answer.

Sara Lance whispers, "What the hell happened to you?"

Before any quips can be made, a male AI speaks overhead: "Sirs, the Time Masters would like to reward you on capturing the team. They say that Project Sigma has been accepted."

Chronos claps a visibly beaming Null on the back as he replies, "Ask them if they want some trophies from Hunter and his crew."

"Very good, sir."

"What is Project Sigma?" Lance demands.

Null answers, "Sigma is the eighteenth letter in the Greek alphabet, roughly translating as 's'; the eighteenth star in a constellation; and a mathematical sum."

Chronos chuckles all the way to Stein's cell.

 

**********************

 

At first, Leonard Snart begins to disappear from existence, blue light breaking his arms and legs apart. He yells in rage and pure terror, mind racing across every escape plan he can think of before...before he just thinks about Mick and Lisa, and...about the things that matter.

_"Jerk."/"Trainwreck."_

_"There's good in you, Snart."_

_"Yeah buddy. I'm in."_

_"Captain Cold."_

_"Lenny. Where's my gun?"_

_"Len."_

_"Leonard."_

_"Sweetheart."/"Stop calling me that."_

_"Snowflake."/"_ Mick _."_

_"Hey big brother!"_

"Hm."

Len gulps lungfuls of what air exists in the End's pocket. It's not much, but the reminder that he's still  _here_ is enough for now.

Opening his eyes, Len comes face to face with himself.

"Most people feel sorry for themselves when I touch them," says this new Snart. His eyes, dark with dim stars, roll over Len's prone form. "But you...you simply refuse to leave them."

"What are you?" Len pants.

Snart raises an unimpressed eyebrow. "Not as intelligent as they make you out to be, however. Still, you are interesting, Leonard Snart."

"Well, I've been told I have a  _sparkling_ personality."

Snart's lip curls in surprised amusement. "I think I'll leave you here for a bit. If your sanity isn't completely gone by the end," he smirks as if he just made a good joke, "I'll consider letting you continue."

He disappears. The darkness he had kept at bay coalesces around Len.

It is not painful. It does not sting.

It's just...nothing. There is nothing here.

Len trembles.

 

**********************

 

Mick Rory, the Time Masters shove into a room that is completely exposed to the Time Vortex.

This doesn't hurt until he's laughing so hard he can't breathe or feel or remember or forget or-or-or-or-ororororor—

There are countless eyes boring into his back as he's dragged from the room. They don't belong to the Time Masters.

 

**********************

 

Snart reappears the second time they shove him in there. The Time Masters are both amazed and extremely intrigued at Leonard Snart's continued existence, and quickly put him back in however much time later. If time had even passed at all.

Crouching over Len, he asks, "Do you know what I am yet?"

Len, still trying to recover what he can from his latest wipe, mumbles, "Heard 'em call you the End. Asked how I survived."

"A pertinent question, considering I erase whoever they dare to throw at me. But like I said, you are interesting, Leonard Snart." For a horrifying moment, Len has no idea who he's talking about. "You've gone through intensive memory wipes, yet I see that you still remember your name when reminded. Can anything willingly erase you, I wonder?"

"You say I'm interesting. There another reason you're keepin' me around?"

The End stares at him for Len doesn't know how long. Then, without answering, he presses his cold lips to Len's.

This time, there is definitely something in the darkness. Chaos, disorder, everything gone, everything done, everything—

"You don't even collapse when I touch your mind," the End whispers, sounding genuinely shocked. "Yes, Leonard Snart. There is definitely another reason I am keeping you. If you figure it out, I'll help you reach Null."

Len rasps, "What's Null?"

"The one thing I never thought would be born. Off you go."

 

**********************

 

Null steps into Jax's cell.

Almost immediately, Jax has a hand out between them, calling, "Snart! Snart, you gotta snap out of it, man! The Time Masters did somethin' to you! You're—"

"Better than this?" Snart suggests. Jax swallows. "Look, Jax. I like you. You tried defending me and Mick, and, frankly, you remind me of my little sister."

Jax's eyes widen. "You remember your sister?"

"Of course I do. I remember being Leonard Snart as much as you remember being yourself before Firestorm."

"Then why did you do that to Rip?! Why are you holdin' us here?"

Snart spreads his gloved hands. "Come now, Jax. I just said I like you. I'm going to help you."

"Oh yeah? How's that?"

Null removes one of his gloves. "Just relax."

 

**********************

 

"Chronos."

Chronos gives a pleased rumbling sound. "Null," he replies.

Null slowly tilts his head, intrigued. "How long until we leave Vanishing Point?"

The question suddenly has guns pointed right at their backs.

The Time Masters attempt to separate them.

It goes about as well as you'd expect.

 

**********************

 

As the Borealis takes to the Vortex for the first time, Null is overwhelmed by the sheer  _substance_ of it all. He's still not used to being around things that he's not supposed to erase.

Thankfully, he has Chronos. Chronos, who strips them both and slams him up against the nearest pillar on their bridge. Null has no idea what he's doing, but his body seems to have an inkling. Have they done this before?

Whatever it is, it feels good. The gaping void finally swells with  _something_ , and no matter how much it devours, Chronos always has more to give.

"Chronos," Null gasps, wrapping all four limbs around him, "Chronos...m-mah..."

In response, his opposite grabs his face with his free hand and tilts it so their eyes meet. He looks almost desperate, though for what, Null doesn't know.

He despises not knowing.

"What was that?" Chronos hisses. Null furrows his brow. "What were you about to say, Null?"

He increases his pace. Null's back, slick with sweat, slides up and down the pillar in short spurts.

"Mah..." he moans, forehead falling against Chronos', "mah... _Mick_!"

As he comes, Len gasps for air. When they're finished, he digs his nails into  _Mick's_ shoulders, kisses  _Mick_ 's lips, terrified that he'd lost so much of himself in this new version.

Tentatively, Mick murmurs, "Lenny?"

Len swallows. "Mick," he whispers, grabbing his face, "Mick."

"What's your name?" Mick demands, "Tell me your name."

"Leonard Snart," Len dutifully replies, "my name is Leonard Snart. I'm from Central City, 2016. I have a sister named Lisa. You're Mick Rory, my partner." A pained smile, "I told you we might not die."

Mick lets him down to smack his arm. "Fuck, Snart. Your plans need some work."

"I disagree. We have our own time ship and," Len studies his own hands, "abilities beyond what anyone could hope to get."

"But we're on the Time Masters'  _leash_."

"So we use it. We do a few jobs," they're all imprinted in Len's head like a brand; dates, places, names, wanted alive or dead, "work our way up, earn their trust."

"Then what?"

"Then," Len grins, "we get that son of a bitch Rip Hunter."

Mick perks up at that. He yanks Len into another bruising kiss for it, mumbling, "Missed you, Lenny."

Len nuzzles their foreheads. The End absolutely adores touching Time. "Missed you too, Mick."

"They did a number on you. I was wondering if you'd ever come back."

"How did you?"

"Time Vortex. I got access to it now. No matter what they did to me, I could just look into my body's time stream and remember. Lotsa ways my timeline goes, so I dunno which was which, but I'm pretty sure we met in juvie and I saved your ass from gettin' shanked."

The images are fuzzy, but Len can confirm, "Yes."

"And fire. I remember fire." Len huffs a laugh. Of course he does. "Fucking beautiful. I need to get my hands on a lighter."

"We'll find one on this job," Len promises, "let's get cleaned up."

 

**********************

 

"Time."

The End's eyebrows climb to its hairline. "Pardon?"

Wiping the blood from his mouth—they've started the beatings again—Len smirks, "That's what you want from me. I heard a few whispers here and there about what they're doing to my partner." His heart gives two painful thumps. "The Time Vortex sounds like the opposite of you. It's full while you're empty. I'm guessing you don't touch very often."

"And why would I possibly want  _you_ to help me?"

Len forces himself to stand. "Because," he rasps, "if you and Time are absorbed into bodies, you can feel each other anytime you want. I become you; Mick becomes Time."

The End scoffs, though Len can tell he's right. "Humans can't take in the entire Time Vortex  _or_ The End," it snaps. Len can see its frustration; it's been thinking about this for a long time.

"You don't have a human's creativity," Len says. At The End's scowl, "If you give me the ability to  _access_ you, I don't have to take it all. Think of it as a meta-human."

Like the Flash. Fuck, that seems like lifetimes ago. Technically, Len supposes, it has been. He's pretty sure he's spent six hundred years, at least, in the Vanishing Point.

The End's eyes widen. "That...could work. I become you, and—"

"I'll get to Mick. In other words," Len takes a breath, "I become Null."

 

**********************

 

Time is fire and water and chaos and order. Mick's learned to blaze with it.

The eyes no longer scrutinize, but admire. They want something; Mick can feel it. Reaching out a hand, he traces a few glowing paths, tapping into them.

 _"If you give me the ability to_ access  _you, I don't have to take it all. Think of it as a meta-human."_

_"...I become you, and—"_

_"I'll get to Mick. In other words...I become Null."_

Mick knows exactly what to do. "Can you do that with me?" he asks the eyes, "Can you make me Chronos?"

Before he can blink, he's swallowing the eyes.

 

**********************

 

"Don't worry, Jax," Null, The End, Leonard Snart, grins, "this won't hurt."

Chronos, Time, Mick Rory, adds, "We'll make you better."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
